


With A Pinch Of Being Replaced

by ItsaMePatches



Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-08-10 02:59:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7827715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsaMePatches/pseuds/ItsaMePatches
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two new Vocaloids by the name of Bruno and Clara have been announced to the world of Vocaloid, both of which seem to be mighty good at some of the languages that Prima and Tonio are supposed to be good with. While Prima doesn't appear to be fazed by the newcomers, Tonio gets a bad feeling about this scenario. Fans are already starting to say they're better than him and Prima, so could his fear of being replaced coming true?</p>
            </blockquote>





	With A Pinch Of Being Replaced

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything like this in a while. Let's get started!

* * *

 

 

**_Klink_ **

    On days like this one, he truly wondered if he should've been born human.

**_Klink klink_ **

    Although humans had to face similar psychological problems on a daily basis, at least the opera Vocaloid wouldn't feel as worthless, hopeless about his situation.

    **_Klink!_**

    Tonio sighed deeply, sitting back against the seat after taking a few long gulps of his recently-filled glass of martini. His amber eyes blinked away from the table and, instead, focused on the window beside him. So lost in time, he wasn't aware of how late it was; however, it didn't worry him at all, for he felt as though he would be spending the night here at The Golden Frog. The place was like a second home to the male Vocaloid.

    ..."Vocaloid".

    _Mannaggia_.

    That word drove him to tug and tear his bow-tie off while burying half of his face into the palm of his propped palm.

    ' _What a joke._ ' Tonio reached for his drink once again to divert his attention away from anything to do with Vocaloid, including what's going on at the moment.

 

    The fanbase was picky - this was a semi-controversial statement in the Vocaloid group. Male Vocaloid? Waste of time and money. Female but have a voice that wasn't "feminine" enough? Discarded. "Lord help you if you were an English Vocaloid," was all that could be said in regards to Engloids. Wouldn't you know it...two out of the three things that were scrutinized in the fanbase happened to be what Tonio was: _a male, English Vocaloid_.

    Fondly, he remembered how people were actually excited upon hearing his demo, seeing what he'd look like, things such as that until they finally got a release date for him (or rather his software, technically).

    That was years ago, and Tonio's time as a vocal synthesizer with a human body was...exhausting. Mentally, physically, and even emotionally worn out he became as time passed without, well...much improvement with impressing the Vocaloid fandom. Sure, there were a few times where cover songs featuring him were noticed, but originals featuring the opera Vocaloid was scarce as could be. He didn't leave an impression, even negatively.

    ...okay, so there was a time where somebody called him a "terrible UTAU", but he'd rather not remember how much he vomited from excessive drinking due to the loathing feeling he had upon hearing that.

    He had instances where fellow Vocaloids, such as Sonika and Prima, helped him feel better about himself, and it seemed like it slowly began to work...but then--

    Bruno and Clara.

    Those two Vocaloids were products of a somewhat newcomer company in Spain. Besides being the first Spanish-language Vocaloids, it had been rumoured that the duo possessed the ability to sing French.

    At first, Tonio was neutral about Bruno and Clara but not for long, for you see, the more he thought about it, the more he came to a conclusion which told him about the two being possible replacements. Bruno and Clara sung Spanish, something which he and Prima were supposed to do alongside English, and they apparently could sing in French. French was something that the opera Vocaloids sung; however, the thought still left Tonio's stomach twisting in on itself.

    The rumour about their capability to sing French was proven true after overhearing Bruno singing a French song in the shower whilst Tonio wandered the hallway.

    It was happening, huh? He would be the first Vocaloid to be replaced, he _knew_ it. The comments online talking about how Bruno and Clara far exceeded the quality, everything, of the English Vocaloids caused even more worry for Tonio. People used their voices more, including originals. To boot, people turned to them for their original English-language songs instead of using an Engloid. Okay okay, so they did this method with Japanese Vocaloids too, but now Engloids were getting blown into dust again by another type of Vocaloid.

    Hardly anybody used Tonio ever since they arrived. Hell, people accidentally forgot of his existence something that didn't appear to happen with Sonika or Prima for whatever reason.

    He couldn't stand it anymore. He needed to get away before the whispers of being useless, a failure, unwanted, and other discouraging words continued to plague his cyber-mind. Whether he planned on coming back later that night, tomorrow, the day after, or at all was indeed a mystery.

    Brushing by Bruno who looked like he was going to ask him something, Tonio left the house and took a taxi to downtown. Ever since arriving to this fine establishment two and a half hours ago, Tonio successfully managed to block out bits of the mocking words directed towards him and his existence as a Vocaloid.

    _Fucking worthless thing._

    He downed whatever was left in his glass.

    Amber eyes again glanced out the clear window and was now greeted by stars who were enjoying their company, I.E. the full moon, without a cloud to be seen.

    ' _I'm such a failure as a Vocaloid. Can't even sing in my native tongue without causing a fuss._ '

    "Shut up," he grumbled out loud at his conscious.

    "Elder?"

    Tonio quickly turned his head to the entrance of the booth and immediately felt his stomach flop upon seeing Bruno standing there, his hat off his set of brown curls for once and in his hands. Of course the newcomer had to call him "elder" even if Tonio (both physically and software release-wise) wasn't that much older than him. "Bruno? What on earth are you doing here?"

    The Spanish Vocaloid ran a hand through his locks for a moment whilst his blue eyes glanced at the martini-glass covered table and then to Tonio. "Well...you kind of ran off," he responded, "so, I wanted to come and see if you were going to be okay."

    Tonio saw his eyes soften out of worry, probably because he noticed how sickly he looked with bags under his eyes and his dark hair a ruffled mess. "I'm fine, thank you for your concern."

    "Can I sit with you...?"  
    "...if you must."

    He shot Tonio a smile, and the opera singer sure as hell pretended like his stomach didn't flip-flop at the pretty face who was now sliding into the booth. God, he needed another drink. Where a waiter when you need them...?

    "Hey, Elder--I mean, Tonio?" When he saw Tonio look at him, Bruno said gently, "I'm sorry if I did something to hurt you."

    "...you did no such thing," he muttered as he glanced towards the window once more.

    " _Please don't be scared._ "

    His head turned to Bruno, his eyes widening a second. "Excuse me?"

    Bruno fidgeted in his seat, possibly thinking of what to say without sounding condescending or moronic, before leaning forward in his seat, saying in further detail, "Prima told me that you're scared about me replacing you because we sing the same languages and everything and you think everyone will eventually forget you. The thing is...I don't _wanna_ replace you!"

    The Spanish Vocaloid watched the other Vocaloid's hands slide into his lap whilst his shoulders tightened together as his eyes darted to the table. According to Prima, he's been like this for the past three weeks, and boy was it starting to show. A twinge of worry went off when he wondered if he was causing Tonio to feel even more frightened about him. What should he say? Was there something that could ease Tonio more? He had to be careful of Tonio's low self-esteem.

    Oh... _there_ was something.

    "If I were to ever replace you," he told Tonio, "not only would everybody at home would be sad, _I_ would be upset about doing that. You matter to us, even if you don't think that's the truth. Besides, I'd rather work along side you! You wanna know why?" Although Bruno felt his cheeks and ears burned red from confessing this, he went on with it anyway, "I used to listen to you sing all the time while Clara and I waited to be sent out here...it's what I did with my spare time!"

    What...??

    "I thought, and still think, you're a great singer, Tonio. You...left an impact on me."  
    "An...'impact'?"

    "Yeah." He smiled in a comforting manner at the Engloid, his blue eyes softening its gaze. "You're wonderful, you just don't know it yet. I hope we can become friends once we get to really know each other. Maybe," he offered a suggestion to him, "talk to me about opera. I'm curious about what you have to say for it..."

    ' _Wonderful... he thinks I'm wonderful...?_ ' Tonio couldn't believe what the man -- Lord how he looked like a cute puppy with his head tilted like that -- across from him, a man he was scared of due to the assumption he'd replace him, was saying all of this about him. He could tell Bruno wasn't lying by the tone in his voice and body language which quickly dismissed any "what if he's lying" thoughts from going off within his cyber-brain.

    Oh no.

    Oh no no no no no no--

    A single sob bubbled up from Tonio, capturing the attention of Bruno in an instant. He choked out a second sob, but then a third escaped from him, and he couldn’t restrain it like he could’ve had he been sober. Finally, the constant worry of being pushed even further away as a Vocaloid by Bruno vanished as soon as Tonio felt hot tears streaming down his red face. Why did he have to feel so fucking scared over that thought? Was it because his self-esteem severely lacked and believed it would happen one day? Possibly.

    "Aw no, Elder..." Bruno grabbed a clean napkin from the dispenser to his right, then he turned back to the older man and gently wiped at his face. “Are you okay?”

    He blinked thrice for the tears to vanish from his vision, and Tonio found himself staring at Bruno’s gorgeous face, his curls forming perfectly around his face and his dark blue eyes staring at him with a hint of concern while he smiled apologetically. “I–I, erm, I…I’m fine,” Tonio replied with a grumble, feeling embarrassed while charmed by the young man. Damn it, Sonika was right…he was handsome. “I–it’s not like I cried for a reason or anything. Alcohol gets to me sometimes.”

    Bruno felt a sense of calm wash over him once Tonio began grumbling in Italian with an embarrassed tone still present whilst he began wiping his tears away. From a few feet away, near the entrance, Prima watched with a small smile at the heartwarming sight.

    ‘ _Thank you, Bruno._ ’

    And this was how Bruno and Tonio became friends.

 

* * *

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> ((this can be seen as Bruno/Tonio if you want since it's really based off this: http://itsamepatches.tumblr.com/post/123248830823/how-did-you-make-up-the-brutonio-ship-i-really ))


End file.
